Fame and Fortune

The Practical Magic guild begins an extremely busy time and deals with the consequences of fame and fortune.

14.

Fame and Fortune

 

It was a few hours before dawn before the two airships reached Westmark. But after docking at the airship platform, the crews of both ships decided to wait until morning to inform their passengers and instead, let them sleep and enjoy the nighttime shower.

Morning came with a jolt to Muld and his guild, as they were quickly awakened a few hours after dawn by the excited air crewmen.      A crowd had assembled on the docking platform, surrounding the King and Queen of Marksylvania, who awaited them.

Muld jumped up with a foggy brain and was hurried along with his equally stunned companions outside of the ship to meet the royals with only a few moments to prepare.

Syndi had a dazed expression matching his own as if trying to quickly clear her mind after being deeply asleep.   Her face brightened as her gaze fell on him, but before they could speak, the over-awed airship crew nearly pushed them onto the docking platform.

 

It was the beginning of a dizzy, frantic period of activity that Muld would never forget.     They emerged from the cabin of The Locust as heroes and celebrities.    The news of their capture of three airships had spread throughout the city and suddenly everyone wanted to see them.

King Eleazar and the lovely Queen Aurei congratulated them and the guild spent the rest of the day as the toast of the Marksylvania court.  

He spoke to countless people, answered a thousand questions and was pulled in a hundred directions.     It was a blur of faces and names, and though the others shared the experience with him, the focus was upon him.

Until late that night he was the center of attention and he actually fell asleep in the feasting hall.    Servants awakened him and escorted him to a guest room in the palace to sleep.   He had tried all evening to talk with Syndi, but she had been pulled away by Alleania and her niece and he hadn’t seen her for the rest of the night.

The next morning he awoke hoping that all the craziness had ended, but to his chagrin it had only changed into a focus on work.   He met with the king and perhaps four dozen craftsmen and wizards, discussing the situation with Hobnail’s pirates and his plan to fortify the Losasidhe ships, as well as Marksylvania’s existing, make-shift air fleet (with the King’s permission, of course).

Everything he said was accepted happily and soon he was giving orders for the needed supplies,  discussing how best to hire more Practical Magicians, going over his and Syndi’s plans for training these new apprentices, obtaining warehouses and additional buildings for the increased work, sharing his ideas for installing vacuum engines on The Locust, and working out contracts with the dwarves of the Armorers’ Guild for casting a hundred cannons (paid for by King Eleazar and several sizable donations by patriotic Westmark nobles.).   

Before he knew it, several weeks had passed like a flash of lightning.    Every day he rose at the crack of dawn and worked until the wee hours of the morning.    Things advanced with unbelievable speed.    Within three days of arriving in Westmark, the guild had six large buildings rented out - three as workshops and the other three as warehouses.     The Guild’s celebrity status brought them a massive spike of business.    Customers were lined up for a block waiting to place orders - mostly for more mundane items like plumbing pipes, cold chests, security devices for businesses and such things.    King Eleazar commissioned an order for 100 street lights that would be activated magically at dusk and would give an arcane glow to all the main streets of the city until dawn.

They were overwhelmed with work.   Muld met with Jevon, Rick, Tadd, Mutt and Syndi each evening that first week, to make frantic plans and to quickly train them on the needed spells.   Syndi wanted to join them each day, but Muld insisted that she continued her studies with Alleania.

She put her heart into both types of magic and her head probably spun each day from all of her arcane lessons.    She would stay until midnight each day, learning the Practical Magic spells she needed so she could in turn train some apprentices to work on the cannons and ‘military orders’ (as Muld called all their airship work).   

Syndi shared each guild member’s constant state of exhaustion.   Usually there were one or two of them asleep on one of the Guild’s common room couches any evening as Muld was training some of the others.    They had no free time to relax and would take meals as they worked.   

Still, Muld fought panic that in spite of their best efforts, they were going to be overwhelmed.

Many nights all six of them would just sleep in the common room after a long training session.   Muld seldom slept then, however, but stayed up nearly the whole night going over blueprints, purchase orders or spellbooks.    

The next morning they would scatter to see to their various responsibilities.    Syndi would rush off to her classes as a Sorceress, where she would stay all day.    Rick would work on preparing the workshops for the cannons which were being cast by the dwarves, then interview apprentices for the ‘military orders’ the rest of the afternoon.   In between, he’d study the new spells he’d been taught.

Jevon was in charge of fitting out The Locust and he kept track of the work on the vacuum engines, as well as a long list of improvements - both arcane and mundane- that Muld had ordered for the airship.    In the late afternoons he would meet with suppliers for the military orders and order tools and supplies.    

Tadd had the stressful job of dealing with customers all day at the Guild’s main building.   He also took care of the Guild finances and served as a public relations agent.  In spite of his small size, the halfling proved to be incredibly capable and well-liked by the Guild’s clientele.

Mutt’s duties were securing materials for all the non-military orders and he ran all over town buying supplies and setting up work areas.   He began training the first batch of apprentices and became the talk of the town, for few goblin magicians were known to anyone.     He seemed to pick up the spells taught to him very quickly and was very patient and capable as a teacher.    To his astonishment, numerous halfling young women, having learned about his popularity with the halflings at the Losasidhe court, signed up as apprentices.   Most were intrigued to meet a friendly, intelligent and charming goblin.     Mutt just took it in stride, amused and flattered at all the attention.

Muld did a bit of everything during this time, and was constantly planning, buying, listening to customers or suppliers, or lecturing.     A month later, he had taught his five Guild members the ‘core spells’ and the other four joined Mutt in instructing the large number of apprentices that had come in seeking employment.   Jevon, Mutt, Tadd and Rick instructed their apprentices during the day, while Syndi gave her group their instructions in the evenings after her own sorceress classes were done.

In early summer there was rumor of a potential invasion of Marksylvania by a huge army of oriental elves known as "Hutcaiah" from a land far to the west, but this was later said to have been avoided due to Duke Aaron of Helios' valley and a small team of heroes that stopped the foreign elves in their own lands.

 

He had estimated that they’d need at most a hundred apprentices when he had met with his companions on the way back to Westmark aboard The Locust, but by the time the summer heat was at its worst, they had three hundred apprentices working from dawn to dusk at three locations, on an abundance of orders.

The Journeyman Apprentices each knew only a few spells, but Muld had promised all of them that if they were diligent and worked hard, he would keep any of them that was still interested in Practical Magic and would put them on future projects when the current orders were completed.

A large number of the Apprentices were from the refugee population that had struggled to find work in Westmark for many months.     Their employment brought a degree of economic prosperity to the city that had reeled for some time from the after effects of war.   

More money was spent and this, added to the improvements that King Eleazar had ordered, created an excitement that everyone felt.   More and more Practical Magic streetlights appeared throughout the summer and more and more businesses (along with some of the wealthier private residences) added plumbing, sewer and various conveniences.    

Muld’s team even invented some arcane machines, such as magic powered sewing devices for the textile industry in the city that improved the yield and the time required to make clothing.

There was a feeling of advancement and wonder that everyone felt, and at the heart of this feeling were Muld and the Practical Magicians Guild.

It kept all of them constantly busy, so that none of them had any real free time.    Syndi even convinced Alleania and Allea to volunteer themselves as spell casters several times when they were behind in a specific order.  But recently, Allea had left with a group on some sort of important mission to Helios Valley, so Alleania had suspended lessons until her niece returned.    The Drow Sorceress had told Syndi that she had some personal business to attend to and had given her time off so she could now join the others of the Guild in their work.

Now, four months after their return, his ‘council of five’ as he thought of them, was gathered all together in a private room in the first guild building.   He had brought in comfortable furniture and set it up so it would be a place of relaxation and quiet for them.   Money had been no problem, for the Guild had raked it in without overcharging or cheating anyone.

He had not had all five of them together to just sit and talk to, without all of them focused on various projects, and he was especially glad to see Syndi there.     Though he had seen her frequently since they had returned, they had been so preoccupied with everything that it had been nothing but business for the past four months.

Now, he hoped, they could all take some time to relax, for most of the difficult work was done.

“Good evening, my dear friends,” he said as he entered the room to find all five of them seated comfortably in the chairs or on the sofas, “I am so very pleased that we can gather together tonight without pressing business to bother with.”

They all mumbled agreement with his words and he sat down in a chair near Syndi.

“I’m happy to report that the last of the cannons were finished today and will be shipped off to King Eiolmoel tomorrow.    With this shipment, all of the Marksylvania airships and the Losasidhe ships will have been armed.”

“Has there been any further pirate activity?”   Rick asked, glancing from Muld to Syndi for the answer.

“I spoke to my father by crystal ball yesterday morning and he said that there have been no attacks on his kingdom or the Dwarven kingdom either.     He said they are sighted at a distance every few days, but the Marksylvania ships and the Losasidhe ships have scared them off,”   Syndi replied with a weary yawn as she sunk down in the soft chair.

“My next goal is to get the Losasidhe ships outfitted with vacuum engines.”   Muld announced, glancing frequently at Syndi.

“What about The Locust, boss?”   Mutt asked, munching on some cheese and crackers that had been placed there for their enjoyment.

Muld sat back with a broad smile, “Well, that is another reason that I brought all of you here tonight.    I am proud to inform you that all of the work on our ship is finished!”

The five guild members expressed their happiness at the news and Muld continued, “In fact, I think that the five of you have worked so very hard and so efficiently, that a bit of a vacation is in order.    Tomorrow morning, we will board The Locust and personally deliver the last six cannons to the Losasidhe capital ourselves!”

The news was met with mixed reactions.   Rick and Jevon seemed appreciative, but clearly were worried about leaving their work for an extended period of time.   Tadd was quite excited at the news, but Mutt and - surprisingly- Syndi seemed less than enthused.

“Mutt?”  He asked the goblin.

“Oh, I’m all for the break, boss…”

“But?” 

“Well…um…”

“He has a girlfriend!”  Tadd blurted out and the goblin frowned at the halfling.

“Who is it?”  Rick grinned, leaning forward with interest, “Is it that little halfling girl with the long black hair?   She seemed to be rather friendly acting toward you.”

Mutt shifted uncomfortably, “Well, yes, she’s… a friend of mine…”

“She’s more than that!”  Tadd mumbled, and Mutt threw a chair pillow at his friend.

“I’m training her, boss, and…” He stammered, trying to explain to Muld.

“So bring her along,”  Muld suggested, and the goblin’s eyes brightened.

“Really?   Do you mean it?”

“Absolutely!   She’s welcome, Mutt.   What is her name?”

“Vellie Umberburn… she’s very intelligent, boss and has a very creative mind.”

“But no taste in men-“  Rick jested and Mutt glared at him.

“Mutt, bring her along- this is a get-away for us and if you enjoy her company, then I insist that you bring her.   If the rest of you have someone special you would like to come along, please feel free to invite them.   The Locust has been fully redecorated and will be extremely comfortable.    We will have the ship entirely to our group as all of the controls have been automated as I designed it and I will instruct all of you how to pilot it before we disembark.”

 “I don’t have anyone to bring… but I know of a lovely girl at the Losasidhe court that I wouldn’t mind dancing with again,”  Jevon said with a reflective smile as he recalled their last visit.

“I haven’t had time for dating,”  Rick told them, “But I know of several that I wouldn’t mind asking.   I’ll wait though, as a trip on an airship is a bit much for a first date.”

“I may have a date.”  Tadd said with a sly grin, “I’m sure Mandy Fellystone would love to join me.”

At mention of the halfling’s name, Mutt snorted and replied, “I don’t doubt that!   She’s been coming into the shop every day for weeks.”

Tadd just leaned back and shrugged.   “It’s my charm and magnetism.”

“Well go ahead and invite her if you’d like, Tadd.”   Muld turned toward Syndi, concealing a bit of apprehension when he asked, “What about you, Syndi?”

“Can I only just take one?”  She said in a bedroom voice, and then laughed when Muld involuntarily looked slightly surprised.    “I’ve had men flirting after me all summer, thanks to all the suggestive outfits a sorceress has to wear.   I’m sure I could round up a dozen men easily to escort me, but I’d like to get away from being stared at for a while.    That sounds wonderful to me.   I just want to wear normal clothes and have no one notice me and have nothing that I have to remember or learn.”   She looked at Muld as she told them all this and he was relieved to hear it.

“Well, good, then it is settled; we’ll leave about nine tomorrow morning.   Plan for about a five day trip.   I’ve contacted King Eiolmoel and he will be expecting us.   Remember, this will be a vacation for us, and after we deliver the cannons, we will just enjoy the Losasidhe hospitality for a few days.   You’ve all earned it and I am very proud of all of you.    I couldn’t have asked for a more outstanding council than all of you.     We’ve achieved amazing things in four months and the future of the Guild is quite bright, thanks to all of your hard work.”

They sat and relaxed for an hour more and Muld secretly wished all of them but Syndi would call it a night, so he could speak privately with her.

He had survived four months of thinking about her constantly.   After awakening from the strange dream aboard the airship, he had found it impossible to completely get her out of his mind.   Even when he was swamped with work, a part of his brain was wondering what she was doing and playing back several fantasies of time spent with her.    

Muld knew it wasn’t right and that he was probably just setting himself up for heartache, but thoughts of her got him through the busy days.     When he’d finally get time to sleep - usually only two or three hours a night- he would go to sleep thinking of her and hoping to relive the wonderful dream he’d had of her aboard the airship.

But it never reoccurred and the times he was around her were so busy that he had to just relish the chance to speak to her about business topics.   At least he could gaze upon her lovely form and this would only make him ache to see more of her.

 

They all decided to leave at the same time and Jevon had an important question about the last cannon shipment.   By the time he’d finished talking to him, Syndi and the others had left.   

Muld felt almost devastated, which he knew was ridiculous, as he would see her the following day.   Yet the others would be around and he might not get any time to speak to her.

As he prepared for bed, for a long time he stared out the window at the city and wondered if he’d ever feel satisfied.   Taking his mother’s brooch in his hand, he relished the feeling of maternal love that radiated from it.   

“Mom, what am I going to do?”   He asked it while looking blankly at the new arcane streetlights below, “I can’t keep having these ridiculous fantasies of her.    She’s far out of my social class and her mother hates me.   But I just can’t shake her, mother!   I thought that I’d be so busy with all the work that I wouldn’t have time to think of her.   Instead, it seems worse.”

He began to pace the room, still speaking to the brooch, “There are so many more sensible things to ponder.    I’m worried about the cannons and some of the weapons I’ve installed on The Locust falling into the hands of thieves, or even worse, the pirates.   They are powerful killing devices, mother, and I don’t like it at all.   I don’t want to think of a day where rival armies destroy each other with the devices that I’ve created.”

Muld shuttered at the idea and pondered destroying all his notes and designs, but they would give the Marksylvania and Losasidhe airships an advantage over the pirates.

“Mother, I’ve honestly tried to prevent them from being taken and used by others.   I have set activation plates that must be bolted to the deck of the airships with the cannons set upon them for the cannons to work.   If someone steals them, they won’t work without the plate underneath them.    But I fear that determined thieves will still find a way.     Then there is the self-destruct spell on The Locust - I haven’t told anyone about that, mother!    I can’t decide if they should know or not.    I think the less they know, the better, but I keep wondering if I should tell them, just in case I was killed or injured on the airship.”

“It would kill anyone on board and destroy the ship completely in a huge explosion of fire.    It would even destroy everything around it for several hundred feet.   I’ve called the effect ‘The Light of Yesh’ after the tales of the effects of the destruction of those relics which I’ve heard about.   But it is probably blasphemy to attribute such a terrible and final device to something religious.    Yet I had to think of something that would keep the innovations added to The Locust out of the hands of pirates.    It was a terrible decision that I made, and I just couldn’t share it with them, Mom.   I hope I made the right decision.”

Muld stopped pacing suddenly and stared bleakly out the window.    “I can’t imagine having to make that decision, mother.    If she was aboard, I don’t think I could do it.    I couldn’t be responsible for her death, even to keep the ship out of the hands of pirates.”

His head felt feverish from the intensity of his thoughts and no matter what he tried to focus his thoughts upon, they somehow kept finding a path back to Syndi.

“I need to disconnect my mind from my heart, mom.   I can’t let myself act so immature and foolish around her.   I have to do it!”   He rubbed his eyes in frustration at his dilemma and plopped down on his bed, trying to clear his mind.

It didn’t last but for a few moments, before thoughts of her drifted back into his brain.    He tried to force them out, but they would not yield, and in his weary state, he found himself drifting off into a dream of what could never be.

He saw himself with her, hand-in-hand walking around Westmark, marveling at the innovations and advancements that had been made, thanks to the Practical Magician’s Guild.     He saw them stopping underneath a glowing streetlight, overlooking a large pond in a park (both of which did not exist except in his dream) and embracing.    He saw himself touching her warm cheek, drawing her face close to him and then passionately kissing.

In his feverish dream, he could taste her lips, feel her hands around him, and sense the warmth of her skin.    He could hear himself saying loving words to her that he would never be able to speak to her in the real world.

How long the vision really lasted, he had no idea, but he awoke bathed in sweat, sometime before dawn.     Still smiling at the memories of the dream, he sat up in bed, exhausted but still stimulated.

It was too late now to try to get back to sleep, so Muld swung his legs over the side of the bed and rose up to prepare for the journey.

***

In her quarters in the ‘sorceress' tower’ that Alleania had been given as a school for sorceresses, Syndi awoke with a start from a strange and wonderful dream.   Her heart raced and she sat up in bed, for an instant confused over where she was.     Wiping sweat from her forehead, she slipped out of bed and poured herself a glass of water from a pitcher at her nightstand.   

Taking the glass with her, she went over to her room’s tower window and leaned against the stone ledge, glancing down at the arcane glow emitting from the arcane streetlights that the Practical Magician’s Guild had placed on the main streets of the city.

“What’s happening to me?”  She asked herself as she wiped her damp hair back from her forehead with trembling hands.

Syndi took several calming breaths and stared across the city toward the newer buildings on the eastern end.    She could make out several docked airships at the city’s docking platform, and she knew that The Locust would be silently hovering with the others, awaiting the Guild’s trip the next day.

She knew she should go back to sleep; for she hadn’t slept much in many weeks.

But the thought of experiencing the strange dream again unnerved her almost as much as it intrigued her.

“No,”  She told herself, though she wasn’t sure why.    For a few moments she gazed into the late night darkness, then, sitting her glass on the window ledge suddenly moved across the room to a small table upon which rested a crystal ball.   

Syndi paused for a moment, hesitant to act, for it might give credence to thoughts lurking in the depths of her mind.

She took a deep breath and softly chanted the words, waving her hands over the surface of the smooth crystal.     Closing her eyes, she focused all her thoughts on the image she wanted to see.    She felt the arcane power radiating from the ball and even with her eyes closed, she could tell that an image had formed within the scrying device.   

She asked herself if she really wanted to see what she brought up in the crystal.    She nearly pulled her hands away to dispel the image, but her heart pounding in her chest overruled her fear.

Syndi opened her eyes slowly and focused on the image.

 

It was a candle-lit room and she saw him at once, pulling on a tunic as he stood before a table littered with books, scrolls and parchments covered with drawings and plans.   

Peering closely, she scanned his form and then made a motion against the side of the crystal ball, which amplified his image.    He had finished pulling the tunic over his head and was now combing his unruly brown hair with his fingers.

As soon as she saw him up close, Syndi gasped.    He looked haggard; hollow eyed as if he had been fighting sleep all night.   His face had a sheen about it and his hair was wet and resisted his attempt to control it.

“Yesh preserve me!”  Syndi exclaimed, as the reality of what she saw slowly dawned on her.

He looked up as soon as she spoke the words, and glanced across the room toward his own crystal ball.   She had forgotten that both of their scrying devices transmitted sound as well as images.

Fear of being seen made her jerk her hands away from the surface and with shaking hands she threw a silk cover over the crystal, then moved across the room, never taking her eyes off the scrying device.

She had reached her bed when the silk cover began to glow.   Syndi quickly lay down on her bed and peered anxiously at the crystal ball.     The fabric of the cover concealed her, but the glow continued for several minutes, and then slowly faded out.

The Losasidhe princess exhaled in relief, but she didn’t dare go to sleep and she was too stunned and confused to sleep any way.    She lay there staring wide-eyed at the window, more scared than she had ever been in her entire life.    Syndi smiled in her terror and would not have yielded it for anything in the world.

 

***

 

Muld sat staring at his darkened crystal ball, a puzzled and somewhat concerned expression on his face.

“That was very odd,” He said to himself, “Very odd indeed.    What in Yesh’s name is going on?”

He pondered the strangeness of the night until it was light enough to begin the day.